HEPYC CONSIDERED A SUCCESS STORY WITHIN THE HAZINNOVA PROJECTS

The company HEPYC has been considered a success story within the Hazinnova projects for the high level of efficiency attained in its logistics processes and the continuous improvement approach it has promoted.

The purpose of the HAZINNOVA projects is to improve corporate competitiveness by promoting non-technological innovation by identifying solutions and implementing them through a specialised advisory service.  In this regard, HEPYC decided to explore an outsourced expert view on its logistics operations to help identify new areas of improvement and continue impacting positively on the services they render to their customers.

The project focused on the following areas:

• External analysis and validation of their operating processes, with associated improvement actions.
• Reflection, considering the current and future demands of the logistics system, on the need to make investments in automation.
• Review of the table of logistics indicators and assessment of possible new metrics.

After validating its operations and verifying the high level of development of its operating processes, the following improvement actions were proposed:

• To analyse the movements of its high-turnover items, adapting shelves to increase capacity and minimise the number of replacements.
• To relocate high-demand products to main shelves, contributing to reducing the number of replacements.
• To facilitate incoming and outgoing movement of higher turnover items, ensuring they are located at medium height and improving ergonomics for workers.

In terms of project results, on one hand it has been reconfirmed that the development of logistics processes is being managed correctly. On the other hand, the project has promoted the development of a plan of actions for improvement, making several changes, which have led to:

• A significant reduction in the number of high-turnover items being replaced. With the increased storage capacity in the picking area, the needs for replacement have been cut by 40%. This represents a significant time saving.
• The order preparation process has been streamlined, relocating the higher turnover items to the main modules.

Lastly, it has facilitated the discernment of the scenarios that would benefit from future investments to increase the automation of the logistics processes.

Hepyc has been operating in Hernani for over 75 years and has distribution warehouses across the country. Its activity is focused on the design, manufacture and sale of cutting tools, mainly drilling, screwing and milling technologies. Its products are used in the industrial sector, meeting the highest demands in terms of product quality and service. In relation to logistics, Hepyc's activities are based on highly optimised technology-backed processes, both in terms of software (SGA) and hardware (PDAs) in order to render order preparation services very quickly and to the utmost quality standards.